Archives

Tag / Jewelry

I probably have enough jewelry to open up a small jewelry store. Something you’ll always see me wearing are a stack of bracelets. They are my version of arm candy! The only geeky bracelet in my arm candy bunch was a Game of Thrones “Valar Morghulis”, that is until ThinkGeek debuted their charm bracelets!

What I love is that you can add a bunch of your favorite nerd things to one bracelet; it’s kind of like PANDORA but for geeks.

Discount for GGG friends! Get 11% off using the code: keyboardcat

Interview with Amanda of Slight Jewelry

GGG: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Amanda: I grew up in sunny Tucson, Arizona, the home of the Gem and Mineral Show. I was what my teacher called a “rock hound,” I sure did love those geodes. As a kid, I wasn’t an ugly duckling, I just had ” interesting features.” One of which has dictated a nickname that I embrace to this day: Fangs. I am missing two teeth where my canines meet so I literally have two fangs. Although the goth boys loved them, I was very self-conscious about them for a very long time. I was constantly asked, “Do you sharpen your teeth?” Anyway, fast forward past puberty and college, I ventured to Colorado where I finally learned to love my fangs. I lived there for 5 years though the wacky weather and countless serving jobs. I wanted to work in fashion and knew Denver wasn’t the place to fulfill that dream. With the support of my older twin sisters, I made the leap to New York City about a year and a half ago. It was extremely difficult at first but I had a vision: Make something as unique as my teeth, and I think have succeeded in that!

How long have you been making jewelry?

A little over two years but I’ve been sketching ideas for a decade.

Is there a film, book or game got your into zombies and horror and why?

If you exclude reading every Steven King book before I had any idea what it was about, I would say that I have always loved “Evil Dead” and the campy yet endearing horror movies of the 70s and 80. Although, I like to mix in some scary ones here and there. The movie “Alien” is the best sci-fi horror film of all time – such incredible set design and makeup! And the zombies, how can I forget about the zombies? For humor’s sake, I choose “Shaun of the Dead” and on the other end of the spectrum “Resident Evil” Because who doesn’t love Mila Jovovich?

What’s Slight Jewelry’s origin story?

I worked for a fine jewelry designer for over a year and it was quite the eye opening experience. There wasn’t anything out there for my personality so I decided to make it myself. I wanted to make jewelry that I liked and that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. The Zombie Collection is my first collection and I will continue to add to it. It’s my zombie baby. :)

Which have been some of your favorite pieces to make?

I absolutely love the clown zombie cufflinks, so dear to my heart. And the mix and match zombie earrings with the zombie weapon of choice.

Do you have any (other) geeky obsessions? If so what?

3D printing- a lot of my pieces are 3D printed and then cast in silver and gold. It’s incredible to have a plastic iteration that I can print right before my very eyes! It also gives the jewelry some great texture and depth.

What’s your zombie weapon of choice?

It would have to be a machine gun with a bayonet mounting, double trouble. If the zombie apocalypse struck, and I didn’t own a bayonet-mount machine gun, I would use the hand painted zombie axe I bought my boyfriend for his birthday. Sharing is caring.

If you were on a deserted island what video game, comic/book, movie, TV show would you bring?

This is a toughy. I have an amazing HR Giger book that I can’t live without. And if I only brought a video game, movie, or TV show, I wouldn’t have anything to play them on! But if I could bring two items (and this island had a TV), I would bring my first version Atari and the game, Pitfall. So many memories with that game!

“You had me at meteorite necklace”, is how I felt when I landed on WeTheSciencey’s Etsy shop. So I can own a necklace that has a metorite fragment in it? SOLD! Who wouldn’t want to flaunt a bit of space around their neck?! And that’s not it! We the Sciencey’s shop is bursting will all sorts of science and sci-fi items that will have you manically clicking “Add to Cart”. What makes it even better is every month WeTheSciencey chooses a new Kickstarter project to back with a percentage of every sale. It’s a win/win!

The handmade (and space-made) meteorite necklace is just as beautiful as I daydreamed! It arrived in a cute little drawstring bag which includes an informational card about the meteorite fragment history and meteorites in general. The necklace itself includes an 18in silver-color chain with genuine meteorite fragment(s) incased in a glass bottle pendant. My meteorite fragment is a chondrite from fall NWA 869 and was found in 2000 in Northwest Africa. It’s pretty freaking cool.

I’m Noah, a 23-year old human girl who likes to think of herself as a creator and who is always on the lookout for grand adventures and tea with Jammie Dodgers. That aside, I am a sailor-in-training and I also want to be an astronaut.

Can you tell us the origin story of your shop, We the Sciencey?

One day, as I was sitting in chemistry class and sketching reaction mechanisms, the thought occurred, “wouldn’t it be brilliant to be able to buy things that are …chemistry-y! but beautiful, because there’s something quite lovely about science.” Just look at the stars on a clear night, in place far away from civilisation…it’s science, but it’s beauty. I wanted to make a place where the two could be celebrated together. Science & art. And then, maybe a semester later, I discovered ‘Doctor Who’. It was perfectly inspiring and added the fictional and imaginative side; I loved that I found an outlet for so many things I loved since childhood, and knew others loved as well. I wanted to share it and have been doing so since!

Which have been some of your favorite pieces to make?

The Meteorite Necklace is, by far, my favourite piece in the shop. Somehow I always end up day-dreaming and imagining the life of the meteorite and its incredibly epic journey hurtling through time and space. It’s kind of mysterious and awe-inspiring! I also just like the idea of people carrying bits of outer-space around with them. :D

Do you have any (other) geeky obsessions? If so what?

I LIKE CHEMISTRY. And SPACE. Art & design. Anddd…well, lots of things. In terms of science-fiction, I’m definitely a Trekkie-Whovian-type hybrid. I find science fiction to be full of wonder and fantasticalness. If I feel a bit stuck, creative-wise, just watching an episode of Star Trek (original
series mostly) or Doctor Who always jostles my imagination awake again.

If you had to live in a fictional sci-fi universe for a month, which would it be and why?

Definitely the Doctor’s universe. I mean, just. Yes. Just think…the adventures, the cultures, the mysteries, the questions and answers and discoveries and beautiful vastness andandand! *sigh* CAN I JUST GO NOW?!?! >.<

Which science fiction tech can you not wait to become science reality?

A replicator! The closest thing I have is the MakerBot Replicator 2 which is a 3D printer. And though, it is pretty freaking amazing, it is limited to creating objects out of 2 varying types of materials and requires a lot of time/learning (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing ;) ). The Star Trek replicator could solve a lot of problems, especially food and medicine shortages. It could also cause a lot of issues if misused. So, while I think it would be a lovely piece of equipment to have in theory….perhaps it might be better that it doesn’t exist. SO. The TARDIS, then. =]

If you were on a deserted island what video game, comic/book, movie, TV show would you bring?

I’d bring: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, A brilliant chemistry textbook so I can invent things to retrofit the island, Space Odyssey 2001, and the Doctor Who series’.

The chestburster Alien necklace from Cthulhu Wake Up Etsy shop is everything you didn’t know you wanted. Although I can’t lie, I’m always a bit nervous saying the Etsy shop name out loud. Not trying to cause the end of days or anything…

The Xenomorph necklace pretty much speaks for itself, but I’ll say a little about it either way. I know in fashion they talk about statement necklaces, but I doubt they even had this deadly beauty mind. The chestburster is masterfully crafted from pewter and sits perfectly on top of your chest, all a-burstin’.

I had the chance to interview Luis about his gorgeously gruesome jewelry only to find out he has a pretty impressive day job! He’s a vfx artist and has worked in movies like Green Lantern, GI Joe 2, Riddick and more. (Which explains why the craftsmanship on the pendents are damn near perfect.)

My name is Luis Alberto Cayo, I have been a a vfx artist for 5 years working in movies like “Gi Joe 2”, “Riddick”, “Green Lantern”, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter”, among others (www.cayovfx.com). Although I enjoy working for these big projects I also want a venue were I can share my own voice and jewelry is a perfect fit for me.

How did Cthulhu Wake Up come to be?

Practicing digital sculpture in my own time, I came up with the Cthulhu pendant and I really wanted to do something with it. I put it up in kickstarter and raised money to make 150 of them. I was thrilled not only that I was able to share my personal work but to make some money along the way too. After that I decided to work towards making a side business of it. Unfortunately, I can’t work as fast as I would like to towards that goal but I’m getting there!

How long on average does it take you to make a piece?

Is a fluid process really. Going back and forward, doing drawings and sculptures. Because I made a point to make it as fun and freestyle as possible I can’t track it that much. 3 days would be my best guess.

I love the idea of the chest-bursting alien necklace, what inspired that piece?

It just popped in my head and made me laugh. It made sense as it looks like is bursting out so I said, why not?

What draws you to Lovecraft’s work? Do you have a favorite story?

Lovecraft is an excellent story teller. Modern storytelling is VERY rushed and the plot needs to be moving along always. Rarely movies, comic books, and TV shows slow down to take the attention from the story and spend some time building an atmosphere and taking us places emotionally. Lovecraft does this very successfully without being boring at all, not to mention he does it only with words! Of course he is not the only one that does this, there are great moder storytellers as well but no one tackles the weird mix of science fiction, fantasy and horror any more, not the way he does.

I have many favorite stories from him. Starting to “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Shadow out of Time”, “The Whisperer in the Darkness”, and many others.

Do you have any (other) geeky obsessions? If so what?

Many others, Dragon Ball Z and Batman being the most prominent. One of my long term goals is to write a Batman story. I love steampunk and enjoy watching cosplay.

If you were on a deserted island what video game, comic/book, movie, TV show would you bring?

Above all I would prefer an sketchbook and a ballpoint pen with everlasting ink. Video game: Street fighter 3, Comicbook: The Dark Knight Returns, TV shows: Batman, the Animated Series.

I’m a jewelry fiend, whether it’s geeky or not. I’ve noticed when it comes to a lot of geek-related jewelry they get an A+ on the geeky part, but miss the mark on the actual quality of the jewelry design. Thankfully, I stumbled across Show Pony on one of my weekly Etsy binges and fell in love. Her fantasy-themed references already make the items a must-buy, and then her elegant jewelry designs put them over the edge.

Shelby also does custom pieces! I had her make a custom Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire cuff for me with the words, “Valar Morghulis”. It came out just as I imagined. It’s thick, but still easily bendable to adjust to any sized wrist. I’m throwing a giveaway with a few lovely items from Show Pony, check out how to win below!

Shelby: My name is Shelby Isaac I’m a college student from Maryland, U.S.A. and Etsy is my creative outlet/moneymaker. I have a pet tarantula and a kitten that keep me company while I run my Etsy business.

How long have you been making jewelry?

Shelby: I’ve been making jewelry since 2010, when I opened my Etsy shop.

How did SHOWPONYSTORE come to be?

Shelby: Oddly enough, I started out making my original items out of frustration. My first purchase on Etsy was an overpriced Harry Potter inspired vial necklace. When it arrived, it was broken, leaking through the package, and no “thank you” note was included. I knew I could make something better for a cheaper price, so that’s what I did.

SHOW PONY STORE GIVEAWAY!

1. Answer the of the following question: What do you think your patronus be?
2. LikeSHOWPONYSTORE on Facebook: Facebook.com/SHOWPONYSTORE (if applicable)3. Follow @BeansCreations on Twitter (if applicable)* Please state the item you’d like to win, you can say all items if you’d be happy with all.* Four readers will win one of the items featured.* Contest ends Wednesday, March 27th